How Body Positivity Helped Kill the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show in 2019

It looks like the angels will be resting their wings this year after the cancellation of the legendary Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. The annual event has been running since 1995, featuring lingerie-clad models and big-name performers promoting the brand on a lavish runway.

In 2019, however, the company announced that they would not be holding the fashion show, in an effort to reevaluate their marketing strategy and ensure their merchandise “resonates with customers”.

While Victoria’s Secret may credit the cancellation to decreasing ratings over the years and intentions to focus on digital marketing, the true catalyst is the same reason they’ve been seeing that steady drop in viewership.

The truth is, traditional Victoria’s Secret models and marketing techniques no longer align with a majority of society’s values.

Carbon copies of the same stick-thin models are out, and inclusivity is in! People want to see diversity in the bodies, products, and lifestyles being marketed to them—an area in which the fashion show has failed to deliver. Women are tired of seeing the same size, race, and even recently, gender.

When questioned about the show’s lack of inclusion, former chief marketing officer of L Brands (the company that owns the Victoria’s Secret brand) Ed Razek answered that they choose not to include transgender models or even many plus size women “because the show is a fantasy”.

What the powers that be at Victoria’s Secret don’t seem to understand is that the fantasy is changing.

Ideals of the female body standard have moved away from a singular definition of what is beautiful.

More and more the women and even men of society are pushing the idea that every woman deserves to feel sexy, empowered, and beautiful just as she is. This rise in body positivity has rendered the unattainable fantasy put forth by the Victoria’s Secret fashion show problematic, irrelevant, and unwelcome.

At The Pouting Room, our definition of beauty knows no bounds.

We encourage all women to celebrate who they are and what makes them feel confident, inside and out! Let us help you rediscover who and what that is with an empowering boudoir photoshoot. Give us a call at 508-603-1163 to schedule your session and embrace everything that makes you wonderfully, undeniably YOU!